Film Studies
Notes #1
Classical Films of the 30s and beyond
 The main genre of the 1930s was the musical
 Films were character based, story developed through one
protagonist
 Actions are clearly motivated through acting style, costume,
dialogue, and actions
 Usually 2 goals: (1) needs to solve a problem, (2) need to get the
romantic couple together
 Editing is meant to go unnoticed; continuity a priority
Musicals
 Busby Berkeley (dance director) and Fred Astaire (exquisite tap
dancer) made the musical sophisticated enough to become the
major genre of the 1930s.
 Berkeley used aerial photography (using a crane), kaleidoscopic
lenses, highly expressive camera movement, and sophisticated
montage techniques. His production numbers (musical numbers)
came closer to experimental cinema than to anything in traditional
narrative film.
Coming of Sound Changes Cinema
 Other genres made possible or great with sound:
 Historical biography like Marie Antoinette
 Dialogue comedies W.C. Fields (sound films) and the Marx
Brothers
 Screwball comedies like Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday.
These had wisecracking dialogue, fast pacing, and an element of
slapstick comedy.
 Many careers declined like those of Buster Keaton and Charlie
Chaplin.
The Studio System: 1910s to early 1960s
 When the Motion Picture Patents Company was destroyed
then independent film studios decided to move in and assume
monopolistic control over film production, distribution, and
exhibition.
 Films became big business.
 Stars had contracts to stay with one studio (they didn’t just
pick and choose which films they wanted to be in like today)
Studios and Monopolies
 Vertical integration from the 1920s and 30s (ending in 1948
with Supreme Court case) meant 5 film studios (MGM,
Warner Bros., Fox, Paramount, and RKO) had control over
all of the production, distribution, and exhibition of films (3
other studios – Universal Studios, United Artists, and
Columbia Pictures – had control over production but did not
own theaters so they were not vertically integrated)
 This is considered a type of monopoly which meant foreign
films had trouble coming into U.S.
Production Codes
 In 1934, the Hays Office and the Catholic Church intervened
in Hollywood after many scandals had made many appalled at
the possible influence Hollywood films might have on social
attitudes and behavior.
 A study (the Payne Fund) found that movies brought new
ideas to children, influenced interpretations of the world and
day-to-day conduct, and presented moral standards. These
findings were shocking to Americans of the day. How scared
they would be today.
Production Codes Cont’d
 Legion of Decency was set up by the Vatican to fight for
moral motion pictures
 Production Codes came into being that were very repressive.
Forbidding: scenes of passion, not upholding the institution
of marriage (while not sharing a bed), nudity, representing
surgeries, showing guns or details of crimes, showing lawenforcement officers dying at the hands of criminals, violence
should be avoided unless necessary to the plot and could not
be excessive, racial slurs, excessive drinking, criticizing
religions of any sort, bad deeds going unpunished, profanity,
and anything sexual happening
MPPDA (1922) and PCA (1934)
 The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association
of America: all studios were a part of it and had to submit all
films to be approved before distribution could happen.
 The director of The Production Code Administration had to
sign off on the film before it could be distributed
 Any company who released a film without the seal of
approval would be fined $25,000
Studio Structure
 Distribution happened at a national level
 Since the major 5 studios owned the means of production
and distribution, they made all of the decisions and could do
whatever they wanted (minus the production codes)
 To ensure high quality films, emphasis was put into what they
could easily control: quality of equipment, techniques,
photography, staging, and costumes.
Here’s how the magic happened
 Writers: scripts were prepared in detail even down to the shot types (writers
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were present during shooting); as many as 20 writers worked on a single script.
Producers: approved the screenplay and cast the actors.
Producers or studio managers: selected art directors, composers, cameramen,
and editors.
Directors: might help cast minor roles or make changes in writing, rehearse the
actors, etc.
Head of the studio made the big decisions (or any decisions for that matter)
From 1930 to 1945, 7,500 feature films were made with every aspect of
production carefully controlled by the studios.
What is different about that today?
What are the positives of the studio system?
What are the negatives of the studio system? (highlight 2 of each in your notes)
About the Studios
 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: known for The Wizard of Oz and Gone
with theWind. A major visual style of films from this studio
had high-key lighting (3 point lighting system using a key
light, fill light, and backlight) and amazing production design.
Considered the richest and most prestigious.
 Paramount: considered the most European (many filmmakers
came from Europe to work for Paramount). Made Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde plus many Marx Brothers comedies, Cary
Grant, and W.C. Fields films.
Studios cont’d
 Warner Bros.: Studio of the working class, specializing in
low-life melodramas and musicals. Usually set in the Great
Depression. Imposed a strict code of production efficiency
on its directors, technicians, and stars. Director-in-chief at
the time won three Academy Awards for production
efficiency in the 1930s.
 20th Century Fox: 3rd most profitable studio. Had a
reputation for hard, glossy surfaces produced through careful
budgeting and production control and the best special effects
department. Produced the most Technicolor features through
1949. Known for Shirley Temple films.
Studios cont’d
 RKO: the smallest of the major studios. RKO stopped
production entirely in 1957 since it was sold to a non-film
company. A financially unstable film studio through the 30s
and 40s. A risk taking studio. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
made it their home. RKO did a lot of musicals, literary
adaptations, brilliant stop-motion photography and special
effects, and made Walt Disney films. Known for making
Citizen Kane and many other excellent films. The film studio
went under after Howard Hughes took over.
Le Million by René Clair
 Musicals were famous in France during the 30s as well. He
was a writer and director. He made many experimental and
avant-garde films like Entr’acte.
 He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director
of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with
fantasy. He went on to make some of the most innovative
early sound films in France, before going abroad to work in
the UK and USA for more than a decade.
 Le Million was the second sound film he made.
Le Million (1931)
 Employs a whole range of nonnaturalistic effects on the sound track.
Most historians feel that this is the best European musical comedy of the
period between the wars.
 While being hounded by creditors, a
debt-ridden artist discovers he has
just won a lottery worth a million
Dutch florins. Realizing that he has
left the ticket in the pocket of his jacket,
he attempts to retrieve it but discovers
that his fiancé Beatrice has given away
the jacket to a criminal in order to elude
the police.